Where Miss Snark vented her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushed them to sand beneath her T.Rexual heels of stiletto snark. The blog is dark--no further updates after 5/20/2007.

12.29.2006

HH Com 606

Jihyun Cho will be executed today. She was given the opportunity to save herself; all she had to do was to profess her loyalty, and sacrifice herself for the Dear Leader. Instead, she decided to grasp the only thing she had left-- her free will.

Framed in her execution, A Leaf in the Wind chronicles the life story of North Korean political prisoner, Jihyun Cho. As the daughter of a party official, Cho had a privileged life: the best education, choice employment and party membership. She reveled in this worker’s paradise. She turned a blind eye to the inconsistencies in the government’s façade that had been built through propaganda.

When faced with famine and economic hardship in the mid-1990s, she decided to flee the country with her family. While crossing the border into China, her husband and son were killed; Cho was captured and sent to a political prison. There, for the first time, she saw through the lies that had been fed to her throughout her life.

(^---your hook ends here)At 78,000 words, A Leaf in the Wind provides an epic tale of trial and sacrifice, set against the backdrop of the greatest atrocities in present day North Korea. The novel strikes a tone somewhere between Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Orwell’s 1984. As a former military analyst and Korean linguist, I have unique insight into this topic that is just beginning to capture the world’s attention.

Great first line.Then you drop off into business as usual.Give us specifics and detail.